Ohio dad denies daughter, 4, a Make-A-Wish trip

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Ohio dad denies daughter, 4, a Make-A-Wish trip

Updated: July 19, 2012 - 8:11 PM

He said the group should instead focus on children who are terminally ill.

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Four-year-old McKenna May, with her mom, Whitney Hughes, finished her treatment for leukemia last month.

Photo: Enoch Wu, Sentinel-Tribune via Associated Press

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TOLEDO, OHIO - A 4-year-old girl who went through two years of cancer treatments isn't being allowed to go on a Make-A-Wish trip to Disney World because her father said she's in remission and the trips should go to children who are sicker than his daughter.

The girl, McKenna May of Haskins, Ohio, had the trip postponed twice while undergoing treatment for leukemia and was set to go in August when the father refused to sign off on the trip, the girl's mother and grandmother said. The family said Make-A-Wish requires signatures from both parents if either have visitation rights or is listed on the birth certificate. McKenna's parents never married.

McKenna's mother and grandmother are now collecting donations to go to Disney on their own. Money has poured in since their story spread. They haven't told McKenna why the Make-A-Wish trip was canceled.

"We've told her we're still going to Disney, just not when she thought," said her grandmother, Lori Helppie. "We don't want her to judge her father."

Her father, William May, said the group should "spend the money on a child who this might be their last memory."

The girl's grandmother said that McKenna has had a rough two years. "She's been through quite a bit," she said. "We have had quite the journey getting her back to being like every other 4-year-old."

ASSOCIATED PRESS